Shrubs or small trees with spreading branches. Leaves alternate, shining, chartaceous, many-nerved; stipules 2, caducous. Inflorescence simple cymes, lateral or
terminal thyrses or panicles; peduncles sometimes branching once or twice after flowering. Flowers conspicuous, bracteate; pedicels filiform. Sepals 5, imbricate, turning
red in fruits. Petals 5(-10), in two whorls, yellow. Stamens many in 2 or more whorls;
filaments subterete; anthers opening with 2 apical pores. Carpels 5 - 10(-15), lobed;
lobes unilocular; styles connate or free; stigmas simple or capitate. Fruits 1 - 5, greenish,
turning black when ripe.
About 85 species in tropics in Africa, C. America, S. and S.E. Asia (India, Nepal,
Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Malesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Borneo,
Java, Sumatra, Philippines); 5 species in India.
Notes.
Kanis (in Blumea 16(1): 1 -
82. 1968) reduced O. pumila and O. gamblei to
varieties under O. obtusata. But there are remarkable differences in the structure of
floral as well as vegetative parts in these species. Their distribution pattern is also
characteristic. O. pumila is found mainly in the N.E.
Himalayan states, whereas O. gamblei is found mainly in the coastal states of S.E. parts of the country. Considering
these points the above two species are maintained as such, without reducing to varieties.
